


Ghazan Week

by Relmarrowny



Series: Red Lotus Appreciation Weeks [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/M, Gen, or just write an entire backstory fic, will edit these eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 01:01:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4983799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relmarrowny/pseuds/Relmarrowny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some fics for Ghazan Week</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One: Childhood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghazan is about twelve years old in this chapter.

He held his hands over the rock, and watched it melt into lava. It had been a year since he had figured out how to phase shift his element. After watching water benders heat water into steam and freeze it into ice, and he was curious to see what would happen if he had done the same with Earth. 

“Seriously, how are you doing that?” His friend Cheng asked, holding his hands over a rock. Not long after Ghazan had found out that he could lava bend, he had tried to teach Cheng with no luck.

“Just heat it up.” Ghazan shrugged.

“I’ve been trying that for the last hour…” Cheng sighed. “How do you heat up the earth?”

“I don’t know, the same way water benders do it.”

“Ghazan!” they were both startled by his sister's voice. When Ghazan looked up, he saw her running towards him, her girlfriend Ling following. “What are you doing!”

“I was just showing Cheng.” Ghazan cooled off the little bit of lava. His sister had told him many times not to lavabend where others could see, and they were right in front of their house, where people frequently passed. However, they were facing the building, where no one would. He was only making a small bit of lava, not a large lava pools he could barely control. And there weren't any soldiers around.

“Come on, Shu, it’s kind of cool.” Ling commented. 

“Yeah, it’s cool until one of the soldiers see him and then notify the Queen and he gets conscripted. You know they won’t hesitate to take him away to one of their prisons.” Shu said and then whispered. “And more are being sent down here every day.”

They lived in the lower ring of Ba Sing Sei. In recent years, more and more soldiers were station down there after reports that crime was significantly rising. The soldiers claimed that they were there to help, but if anything they were more trouble. There were also rumors that the Queen was concerned about an uprising.

“Oh…" Ling  blinked. "Sorry Ghazan, your sister is right.” She smiled sympathetically at him.

His sister was ten years older. At five and fifteen years old respectively, their parents died from an illness and she took over raising him. A year after their parent’s death, she met Ling. The three had been living together ever since.  And he was grateful that Ling was in their life. There had been a few times over the years where his sister had gotten arrested and Ling had taken care of him. During those instances she was more strict and not her easy going self, but it was better than being stuck home alone.

“Dinner is almost ready.” Shu said and then looked at Cheng. “You wanna join us?”

Cheng nodded.

“Go get your brother.”

Ghazan got up, and before following, noticed the group of soldiers patrolling. They would have demanded to know what he and Cheng were doing. But he brushed it all off and ran to catch up to the others.


	2. Day Three: Prison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ghazan is about fifteen in this chapter. 
> 
> Trigger warning for mention of war related violence and threats of torture.

_Ming Hua_

 “So how are we supposed to get into this prison?” Ming-Hua asked following Zaheer and P’Li through the upper ring of Ba Sing Sei. “I thought you said it was heavily guarded?”

"You didn't think the Red Lotus infiltrated the guard." Zaheer grinned back at her. "We have two waiting for us at the entrance, and one has a high enough rank to make things much easier."

The previous night, Zaheer had been contacted and was told that a rebellion had broken out in the lower ring. The soldiers had taken a lavabender prisoner, intending to conscript him into the army. The Red Lotus had gotten word that he was adamant about not joining and that not even the threat of torture was enough to convince him making him the perfect candidate to join the order.

Since he was within their age group, Zaheer, Ming-Hua, and P’Li were specifically chosen to get him out.

“So what if he doesn’t want to join?” Ming-Hua asked.

Zaheer shrugged. “He can do whatever he wants.”

* * *

_Ghazan_

 Ghazan sat in his cell leaning against the wall trying to keep the weight off his leg. Both his right leg and arm were broken and agonizing pain came with the slightest movement. 

“Come on, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” The guard outside the cell smirked. He had been standing there for almost an hour trying to convince him to join the army.

“I mean, do you really want us to take you downstairs?” 

Ghazan shuttered, remembering the things they threatened to do if he didn’t cooperate. But after what had happened hours before, he'd never even consider joining.

He breathed deeply. “The answer is still no.” He broke eye contact.“You…” He went numb recalling what had happened to his sister and Ling. But he didn’t want to say it. Part of him wanted to believe that his memory was wrong and that they were still alive.

The fighting had gone on for days, delaying the construction of the wall. And then the tanks arrived.

His sister had told him and Ling to run. But Ling refused to leave her side. Out of desperation he tried to lavabend, but it didn’t take long for the soldiers to notice, and they were careful not to give him any fatal wounds. The Queen was quite pleased that they had brought the lavabender alive and demanded that they use whatever means necessary to get him to join the military.

“Don’t you want to be healed?” The guard offered breaking Ghazan’s train of thought. “And there’s a large house waiting for you. You should consider yourself lucky, not many who participate in a nonsense riot get off that easy.”

He glared at the guard. The riot was the last desperate attempt to stop the lower ring from being closed off from the rest of the city. When the construction was complete, only those with a passport could leave.  There were told that crime in the lower ring had gotten too out of control and that its citizens were becoming a danger to the people in the upper rings.

Exits to the upper rings were being closed off over the past year. With each one that was closed, food became scarcer and arrived over ripe. Clean water was also becoming a rarity and people were getting sick.

A few soldiers that patrolled the lower ring offered their own suggestion, work hard and one day you’ll get out.

But everyone that lived in the lower ring knew that was impossible. Even those that worked the longest hours in the factories barely made enough money to survive.

Another guard suddenly arrived.

“Hey, our shift is ending early today.” He said.

“Really? Why?”

“They’re sending someone else to talk to him.” The new guard eyed Ghazan. “Said they’ll be much more convincing.”

The guard gave Ghazan one final smirk and walked off.

 _Great what now?_ His heart was starting to pound. It had been tempting to accept their offer, get healed, and then turn on them and take out as many as he could with his lava bending. But the soldiers had told them what would happen if he ever tried to betray them, and the things they described made him nauseous.

He heard the door to the cell block open and then several sets of foot steps. To his surprise, three kids around his age stopped in front of his cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was going to include Ghazan meeting the other three, but I'd need several more days to make it work. So the chapter got cut short.


	3. Day Five: Relationships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for depression and suicidal thoughts

The water was soothing on his arm and the pain eased off. Now that they were out of the city, the waterbender could finish healing. His leg had to be healed back at the prison, it was the only way they could get him out. But the more time they spent in the cell the greater at risk they were of being caught. And he had to ignore the excruciating pain as made his escape.

The adrenaline rush from the prison break was wearing off and he felt numb. The combustion bender had offered him food but he refused, not feeling hungry despite only eating a small bowl of rice several hours ago.

It was now starting to hit him that they were all gone. His sister, her girlfriend, all his friends… he had asked Zaheer if anyone had been found alive. Zaheer only shook his head.

“Does it still hurt?” Ming-Hua asked pulling her water tendrils away.

Ghazan turned his arm and bent his fingers. There were a few scars left, but the pain was gone.

“No, you did a good job.” He smiled at her and her eyes darted to the ground.

 “What happened to your arms?” The water tendrils had given the illusion that they were there. It wasn't until she was halfway through healing his leg that he noticed she didn't have either. 

She looked up scowling and opened her mouth to say something. But then she sighed. “Nothing, I never had them.”

“Oh…” He wasn’t exactly sure how to respond.

“You’re a lava bender?” She asked changing the subject.

“Yeah, I can show you later.” Truth be told, he wasn’t in the mood. If anything, he wanted to find a secluded place to mourn his family. He was barely keeping it together in front of MIng-Hua. “That’s actually why I ended up in that prison.”

Ming-Hua nodded. “They would have killed you otherwise.”

Ghazan sighed wondering what he was going to do. Zaheer had invited him to stay with him, Ming-Hua, and P'Li. But he wasn't sure if he was ready to just jump in with another group. It seemed a little too convenient that they knew a lavabender was taken prisoner and that they knew one of the prison guards who was more than happy to give them access to the prison. 

“You know, I kind of wish they did.”

"What..." Ming-Hua's eyes were wide and she looked lost for words.

"Sorry I didn't mean that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why Ghazan week is so angsty. I debated whether or not to write this considering canon. But I've seen other people headcanon that Ghazan struggled with depression.
> 
> Lavabending will be a happier story.


	4. Day Six: Lavabending

The lava shot forward, leaving a trail behind and splattered everywhere when it hit the ground. Water tendrils froze into an ice wall, and though it melted upon contact with the magma, it gave her enough time to move out of the way.

“Hey that’s the second time I almost got burned!” Ming-Hua glared at him melting the remaining ice. She had been practicing her waterbending nearby.

“Sorry that’s just the way it moves.” He shrugged. For weeks, Ghazan had been trying to get better control of the molten earth. There were no lava bending scrolls, and as far as they knew, no lava bending masters, so he was left to figure everything out on his own. He was starting to wonder if it would be possible to lavabend without being a danger to others nearby.

Ming-Hua walked over and looked at the lava pool that lay before him.

“You know it kind of flows like water. I could show you some waterbending techniques.” she suggested.

He blinked, water was the last element he would have ever thought to associate with lava. But now that Ming-Hua mentioned it, the waterbending styles may more suited to lavabending.

"Alright let's try it."

She demonstrated a very basic water bending technique, gently moving both water tendrils in a half circle in front of her.

Ghazan attempted to imitate her. He swept his arms in front of him, stopping abruptly when he ended the arc. The lava flung up and into the air, landing far away and splashing everywhere.

Ming-Hua sighed. “You need to be more graceful.” She said and walked behind him gripping his wrists. “Like this.”

She guided his arms through the motion, which was much slower and more fluid than what he had done. 

“Okay try it with me.” She instructed.

She kept her water tendrils on his wrists and went through the motions with him. The lava flowed with him as water would for Ming-Hua. And he had to admit, he did have far more control.

“Hey it’s working.” He smiled. 

“Told you it would.” He couldn’t see her but suspected she was grinning.

**Author's Note:**

> Here was a little bit of my backstory for Ghazan. There was actually three versions with his sister. First version was killed by a guard after turning him down, but I felt like I victimizing a female character so I scratched that idea. So I gave her a girl friend. I wanted to make her more badass and have her be the leader of a gang, but I didn't have enough time to really develop that idea. So I left that out of this version. She still ends up dead because I need every family member for the four main Red Lotus members to be dead. But she went down fighting.
> 
> In the second version, I had Zaheer, P'Li, and Ming-Hua find Ghazan nearly dead after the rebellion, and Ming-Hua heals him. But then I thought it was a little too convenient that the lavabender just happened to be the one that survived, and if found by a group with a combustionbender and a disabled waterbender. So I gave a specific reason for the military not to kill him. So I threw him in prison with a broken arm and leg. 
> 
> I may one day write his full backstory and I'll use these fics as reference. I wanted to keep the violence out of Ghazan week.


End file.
